BELMONT – After advancing to the Conference Carolinas women’s lacrosse championship game in her first year as Belmont Abbey College coach, Jenn Flaherty is hopeful her team can continue to compete at the league’s highest level.

Especially when you realize she has 10 starters, including three all-conference selections, back from last season’s 9-7 team that was 4-2 and tied for second place in the league’s regular season race.

However, league coaches don’t share her optimism as they voted the Abbey fourth in a preseason poll.

“It’s definitely going to be a motivator,” Flaherty said. “We’re eager to prove everybody wrong because I don’t think we’re a fourth-place team.”

First team all-conference attacker Elyse Mohn, first team all-conference midfielder Lindsay Connolly and second team all-conference defender Meghan McSherry highlight a group of returning starters.

That group also includes senior midfielder Rebecca Diggs, who will share tri-captain duties with Mohn and Connolly.

“We’ve got some experience back, but we’ve also got a lot of talented freshmen,” Flaherty said.

Among the talented newcomers are three players who are competing for the starting goalie job – Danielle Ruffalo, Claire Kaiser and Natasha Whitman. Other talented newcomers are midfielders Mackenzie Miller, Reese Gassie and Christine Spellman.

A 19-6 loser in last year’s championship game to Limestone, the Lady Crusaders and the rest of the league are again set to chase the perennial power Lady Saints in the league race.

In the seven previous seasons, Limestone has won every regular season title, going an impressive 59-3 while winning six of the seven tournament championship games (dropping only a 15-14 nailbiter to Pfeiffer in 2007).

“Limestone has the target on their back,” said Flaherty, whose program has lost to the Lady Saints in the title game in 2009, 2010 and last season. “Everybody wants to be that team and we’re certainly working to see if we can be that team.”